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| ACROSS THE GRAND PLAZA, NORTHWARD - We have in
this engraving much interesting detail of the scene around the MacMonnies Fountain, and down the vista to
the Art Palace, nearly a mile away. First
we may see the elk, by Kemeys and Proctor, next the arrangement of
sea-horses in the basin of the fountain, which is not overflowing,
the hour probably being very early or on Sunday. Beyond the fountain
is a rostral column with a figure of Neptune, by Johannes Gelert, and
this was one of six copies hereabouts; on the bridge just beyond are
bears by Kemeys and Proctor again; beside the Barge of State in MacMonnies' Fountain are
the two columns that bore eagles - a part of MacMonnies'scheme; and
in the hemicycl of the Electricity Building,
which is the main object in the picture, stands Carl
Rohl-Smith's statue of Franklin. This statue is here indicated in
order to inform the reader that the sculptor believed the authorities
raised his work upon a pedestal too high for the best effects. The
seats which are seen in quite plentiful numbers were secured by the
public only after months of denial, in the interest of the
chair-renters, who flourished under each of the band-stands, the
northern one of which stands in front of the Electricity. John
Thorpe's arrangement of potted plants may be noted upon the
balustrade. Between the elks, steps led to a stone-paved lower
level. Across this plaza blew clouds of macadam dust, testifying to
the folly of those who thus paved the grounds. |
